Craft beer is beer produced by craft breweries. They produce smaller quantities of beer, usually less than larger breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are often perceived and marketed as emphasizing passion, new flavors and different brewing techniques.

The microbrewery movement started in the US and UK in the 1970s, although traditional craft brewing existed for centuries in Europe before spreading to other countries. As the movement grew, some breweries expanded production and distribution, and the broader concept of craft beer emerged.

Although the term "microbrewery" was originally used in relation to the size of the brewery, it gradually reflects an alternative attitude and approach to brewing flexibility, adaptability, experimentation and customer service. The term and trend spread to the United States in the 1980s and was eventually used as the name for breweries that produced fewer than 15,000 barrels of American beer (1,800,000 liters; 460,000 US gallons) per year.